Photographer returns to mines he photographed during strike ‘war’

“I planned to go out and find a war or something after I graduated. And in a way, the war was on my doorstep.”

The “war” to which photographer Roger Tiley refers is the miners’ strike of 1984–1985, which began just months before he was due to graduate from Newport and changed the course of his budding professional life.

He roamed the valleys of south Wales, showing the mining community he grew up in struggling to survive, and sent his photographs to newspapers in London.

The year-long strike ended in defeat for the miners and led to the rapid closure of the mines that had formed the backdrop to Roger’s life.

Now he has returned from the valleys of south-east Wales, where he grew up, across the coalfields to his current home in the Swansea Valley, to raise funds for the Alzheimer’s Society and to see how the landscape has changed over the past decades.

As a local boy, Roger had already spent some time taking photographs in the coal mines in the year before the strike began, and through this relationship he had access to communities that knew and trusted him.

“I’m originally from Cross Keys in the Gwent Valleys and some of my friends worked in the coal mines,” he said.

“In the 1970s, finding work didn’t seem to be a big problem. If you wanted to work, you could work in a factory, in the steel industry, or in the coal mines. There were still a few coal mines within a 10 to 15 mile radius of me, about eight.

“The miners’ strike was very tough, but I think I look back on it with joy because people were so kind and helpful to me.

“It was a time of desperation for many mining families up in the valleys and I think I believed in what they were fighting for.

“I was very careful about where I pointed the camera because I didn’t want anyone to use the images in a way I didn’t intend.”

In between taking photographs, Roger also helped support the miners and distributed food parcels, which he “really enjoyed. I’m proud to have had the opportunity to do that.”

One of the places that has a special meaning for him is the Celynen South Colliery near Abercarn in the Ebbw Valley, where he first documented everyday working life in a colliery.

“That’s where I started taking photos. I wrote to the manager and he said I could come over,” he explained.

“There are two miners waiting to go underground and in the background you can see a mining wheel. It’s a very descriptive image. It’s been used many times over the years.”

After the strike ended, Roger returned to the closed mine and was tasked with documenting the impact of the strike on the valleys.

Roger returned to the closed pit after the strike ended and was tasked with documenting the impact on the valleys.

“One of the first pictures I took of the area and the landscape was Celynen South. It was very sad. There were no fences back then. They just demolished the pit and you could just walk in, which is what I did.

“Some of the buildings were demolished, the hoist wheel was still there, but some of the ropes they used for the hoist cage were gone. It just looked really sad.”

“Today there is a residential area on the mine site. There is nothing to indicate that there was a mine there.

“In some ways, that’s probably a positive thing; it’s no longer wasteland. It was for a number of years, but now at least there are houses there that provide homes for people.”

The landscape changes in the former coal mining areas are very different.

“Some of them have factories on them which are, I would say, half empty. Mardy (coal mine in Maerdy, Rhondda Cynon Taf) is a place where you can walk up and not know there is a coal mine there.

“There are still some concrete bases from the buildings and some tiles from the mine canteen that are still there, but the young people wouldn’t really recognize them.”

Other places, such as Penrhiwceiber in the Cynon Valley, have become playing fields.

While Roger recognizes the benefits of site reuse, he laments the loss of so many jobs and the community they created.

“Each mine would have employed over 1,000 workers. If you multiply that by 30, that is, by 31 mines that were still operating at the time of the strike, that’s a lot of men, plus all the surrounding industries, suppliers, etc.

“So there are probably 40,000 to 50,000 people who were employed in the South Wales coalfield and they are all gone.”

Ray Lawrence, secretary of the NUM lodge in Celynen South for 14 years, worked as an electrician at the mine for 25 years and accompanied Roger when he reached the pit on his six-day trek.

“I can’t imagine it today,” Ray said. “I look around and it’s so peaceful. But 40 years ago there was a dirty, huge hole in the ground and every morning 500 or 600 men disappeared down there.”

“The place was full of life. You could hear the rattling of the trams, the hum of the elevators, everything was moving, it was alive,” he said.

“There was a fence where everyone would stop and smoke a cigarette when they came up or before they went back down. It was a real, living experience.

“Mining is hard to explain. For people who don’t have anything to do with it, it’s a dirty, horrible job, and it was, but the camaraderie made up for it and it’s hard to let go of it. If you talk to men 40 years later, most of them say, ‘I’d go back there tomorrow if I could.'”

Liam Willetts is Marketing Coordinator for Zip World Tower, an adrenaline activity complex on the site of the old Tower Colliery near Hirwaun, Rhondda Cynon Taf and one of the stops on Roger’s Walk.

After the strike, Tower was a rare success story: the workers banded together and bought the mine in 1994. They kept it open until 2008, when it became the last underground mine in Britain to close.

Zip World opened ziplines and other attractions on the redeveloped site in 2021, but Liam said the site’s mining past was central.

Liam said: “The staff speak to all the customers, telling them the history of the place and everyone is genuinely interested, especially the locals.

“It’s great to see that it’s been preserved in some way. I think that was carefully considered when building this site as a Zip World attraction.

“We have some stories and newspaper clippings that people like to look at. A big part of the attraction is the history and heritage.”

The landscapes of the coal mining areas have changed enormously, in some cases beyond recognition. Nature has reclaimed many areas and the impact on the environment and climate is beyond doubt.

Roger recognises this: “The valleys are very green now. I live in Ystradgynlais and it is a stunning place. People come from out of town to live here, it is a lovely, very desirable area.”

“The old coal (rail) lines are used by commuters to Cardiff, Newport and Bristol.

“So you’ve changed. For the better? I don’t know. I grew up in the ’60s playing on the coal heaps, that’s what I love.

“But then when you go outside, you find these beautiful hiking trails in the mountains and everything is green and lush. That’s a difficult argument.”